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Colonel Oscar Tedder acquired the habit of wearing a monocle while attending Sandhurst — and was quite adept at various tricks with it

Sir, I write of Ann Treneman’s wish for Jacob Rees-Mogg to wear a monocle (Parliamentary
Sketch, Jan 23). It was a style adopted by my Australian army cousin
Colonel Oscar Tedder, who had acquired the habit while attending training at
Sandhurst in 1905.

When in 1915 he arrived on the parade ground at Sydney, New South Wales, to
present his 500 new army recruits to the Governor-General, prior to their
embarkation to England, he was appalled to see that each of them was wearing
a highly polished penny in their right eye. In a flash of inspiration he
shouted: